Results 17,581-17,600 of 26,320 for speaker:Darragh O'Brien

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Climate Action Plan (23 Mar 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: An Bord Pleanála (the Board) is the national independent statutory body with responsibility for the determination of planning appeals and direct applications for strategic infrastructure and other developments under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, and certain other Acts. The Board carries out its quasi-judicial functions independently of the Minister and his...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (23 Mar 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Housing for All is the Government’s plan to increase the supply of housing to an average of 33,000 per year over the next decade. This includes the delivery of 90,000 social homes, 36,000 affordable purchase homes and 18,000 cost rental homes. Housing for All is supported by an investment package of over €4bn per annum, through an overall combination of €12bn in direct...

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Traffic Management (23 Mar 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: I refer to the reply to Question No. 234 of 19 January 2023 which sets out the position in this matter.

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Provision (23 Mar 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Details on the number of households qualified for social housing support in each local authority area is provided in the annual Summary of Social Housing Assessments (SSHA). The most recently published summary for all counties, conducted in November 2021, is available at: gov.ie/en/publication/f6119-summary-of-social-housing-assess ments-2021-key-findings/ The 2022 SSHA will be published...

Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Bill 2023: Second Stage [Private Members] (28 Mar 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: 6 o’clock I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "That" and substitute with the following: Dáil Éireann declines to give the Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Bill 2023 a second reading consequent on Dáil Éireann’s passage of the following motion on 22nd March, 2023: — the Government agreed...

Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Bill 2023: Second Stage [Private Members] (28 Mar 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: It has continually changed its position on the ban, saying, on the one hand, that it would remove no-fault evictions permanently, while, on the other hand, saying it would not allow the ban to continue past New Year's Eve. I am not surprised by this. It has also argued for an exemption from the current winter eviction ban to be provided for owners of rental properties to be able to evict in...

Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Bill 2023: Second Stage [Private Members] (28 Mar 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Sinn Féin did not even support emergency planning powers when the Government brought them forward in December. It now claims that these are essential to tackling the crisis but it did not support them when they were brought forward. Sinn Féin did not even mention cost-rental in situpurchases in the alternative 2023 budget but now criticises the Government for not introducing it...

Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Bill 2023: Second Stage [Private Members] (28 Mar 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Sinn Féin talks about it. Sinn Féin states that we need a plan to stop the exit of small landlords from the rental sector, but its plan, written in black and white, is to impose a tax of €400 on 150,000 small and medium-sized landlords. It is entitled to its various contradictory positions but it is not entitled to its own facts. It claims nothing has been done during the...

Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Bill 2023: Second Stage [Private Members] (28 Mar 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: That is simply not true.

Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Bill 2023: Second Stage [Private Members] (28 Mar 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Here are the facts.

Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Bill 2023: Second Stage [Private Members] (28 Mar 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: In the final quarter of last year, approximately 6,000 new social homes were delivered, including almost 5,000 new-build social houses.

Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Bill 2023: Second Stage [Private Members] (28 Mar 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: At the same time, more than 1,500 local authority homes were refurbished under the voids programme and restored to use. Just prior to and during the period of the moratorium, local authorities opened some 500 additional homeless emergency beds and 170 cold-winter beds. Some 734 adults and 346 families exited homelessness in quarter 4 of 2022. In the last three months of 2022, during the...

Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Bill 2023: Second Stage [Private Members] (28 Mar 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: Supply is at the heart of this. Sinn Féin knows this but does not like this statistic either, that 30,000 new homes were completed in 2022, which is a 45% increase on the previous year. Some 25,000 first-time buyers purchased homes last year, which is the highest number on record.

Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Bill 2023: Second Stage [Private Members] (28 Mar 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: First home approvals-----

Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Bill 2023: Second Stage [Private Members] (28 Mar 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: As I was saying, more than 1,300 were approved under the first home scheme, which many renters avail of and which Sinn Féin also opposed. The help-to-buy scheme continues to assist thousands of homebuyers with their deposits, more than 37,000 so far. Again, Sinn Féin opposed that. Almost 1,300 applications to bring vacant properties back into use have been received. Sinn...

Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Bill 2023: Second Stage [Private Members] (28 Mar 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: -----were registered during the months of January and February. During that time, 1,000 new approved housing body tenancies were registered with the RTB. These are solid secure tenancies into the future. It is simply not true that in cases where tenancies end, tenants will end up homeless. Be assured that by providing help from the State, purchase with tenants in situ, dealing with the...

Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Bill 2023: Second Stage [Private Members] (28 Mar 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: That is what is there. Throughout the course of the debate on the eviction moratorium, protections that exist for renters have been lost and I will take a minute to outline them. We have a €500 tax credit that is worth €1000 in 2023. There is a 2% rent increase cap in rent pressure zones, RPZs. Rents outside RPZs can only be increased every two years. There is an...

Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Bill 2023: Second Stage [Private Members] (28 Mar 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: -----and reduce the properties that are available. The only policy Sinn Féin has brought forward in respect of individual Mom and Pop landlords supposedly to retain them is to tax them an additional €400 per year via a second-home tax.

Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Bill 2023: Second Stage [Private Members] (28 Mar 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: That is a fact.

Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Bill 2023: Second Stage [Private Members] (28 Mar 2023)

Darragh O'Brien: It is Sinn Féin short-termism versus the Government taking a responsible decision. We have seen a decrease in social housing waiting lists over that period of time. We will not be dissuaded or put away from the course we have-----